The Sigil Makers: Borderless

Chapter 1

The Sun was climbing over the horizon and the camp of the Sigil Makers was already full of smilodons ready to receive their tasks for the day. The fresh morning wind had got everyone in an ecstatic mood.

Glee heaved herself out of her comfortable nest and quickly cleaned her messy fur. Her plaster-and-fawn colored pelt was tangled in her nesting material; small pieces of moss, debris and splinters covered her from snout to tail.

"Are you done cleanin' your fur?" she lifted her head; her sibling, Umbra had materialized in front of her and was staring at her expectandly.

"Soon enough. Perhaps you should spend more time cleaning yours", Glee answered, turning her head to side-eye her sibling. Umbra's dilute walnut-hued pelt was always covered in needles and otherwise tangled and messy—this time not being an exception.

Umbra rolled their eyes, "Whatever. Just get up soon. Woe's gonna assign the morning parties", they chirped audibly, "Though I thought that was my job", they mumbled at the end "Also, Bretzia's waitin' for ya",

"Well now I really don't wanna come!" Glee groaned. Bretzia was one of the adolescent cubs of the pack, alongside Glee and Umbra.

Glee stood up and followed Umbra back to the clearing of the Sigil Makers' camp. The patch of undergrowthless sand was already filled with other smilodons. Glee sat beside Emovere, a golden smilodon with dandelion eyes and long saber-teeth. Emovere nodded respectfully at her. Not a moment later and Bretzia, the ash-brown and dark cream eyed smilodon with a perpetual happy expression, showed up. Glee inched slightly toward Emovere to get a little bit of space between her and the brown male.

"Hi, Glee! How are you doing?" Bretzia asked excitedly. Glee frowned. The same as every morning.

"I'm fine", she huffed annoyedly. 

Bretzia flicked his ear, "Aren't you going to ask how I'm doing?"

Glee grinned, "I would if I cared to know", she said merrily and hopped away to sit beside someone else. 

She ended up sitting next to Rue, the taupe-brown and brick-red eyed male, who also happened to be her uncle. She watched as the leader of her pack and her mother, Woe, the pale ginger or dilute sienna haired and brick-red eyed female rose in front of the pack. Her wise gaze rolled over the gathered smilodons and her whiskers twirled in the wind. Glee saw Umbra standing up from the crowd to sit beside the siblings' mother. She felt a twinge of jealousy watching her sibling sitting up there, in front of all the other smilodons, all high and mighty. I know I'll never get to sit there in their place, but it's still a nice thought to think about every once in a while. Woe had told the siblings stories of how she had had no choice but to kill her own sister, because that sister had attempted to take her life in pure envy of her position as the second-in-command. Now Woe was the leader, and Glee thought there could be no better leader. Not even Umbra. Not even me. Woe's the best. 

Umbra cleared her throat audibly and began laying out the morning parties. Ah, so Woe is just breathing down her neck as they do their job? Maybe I don't want to be the second-in-command afterall. "Um, so if-".. Glee tuned out her sibling's voice. She was so used to hearing Umbra's mellow voice every morning during the party assigning she only paid attention once her own name was mentioned. "And Glee and Bretzia stay in camp", Umbra's voice was audible again. Glee almost growled out loud when she saw the teasing smirk on her sibling's face.

"So, I guess we're going to guard the camp together, huh?" Bretzia hopped beside her. 

Glee sighed audibly, "Nope, I'm going to spend the morning with Tapir. You can go guard the camp. Bye!" and she bounded away, not turning back to see if the brown smilodon was following her.

She slipped out of the clearing and into another part of the camp that had been constructed only recently. The smilodons needed it for extra den space, but the only felid who seemed to use it was Tapir, the blind smilodon.

Glee saw the beige-and-careys pink male laying in his nest, appearing to be asleep. She knew better than that, though; the sightless smilodon was pretending to be asleep so he wouldn't have to stand his packmates' judgeful glances. Rue had told Glee and Umbra that Tapir had returned to the camp blind the same night the siblings' father, Pine, had gone missing. Every felid thought that Tapir had something to do with it and weren't trying to hide their suspicions either. Well, every felid except for Woe that is, who should be the first one pointing claws at the obvious suspect. The leader on the other hand didn't seem too phased about; she hardly even acknowledged that her mate had gone missing.

"Glee", Tapir raised his head up but didn't look at her—not that he could in the first place. 

"Hey, Tapir. I'm here to hide from your idiot son, so don't get any ideas", Glee remarked. Bretzia was Tapir and Chamise's only son. 

"Ah, of course. Should have guessed. Why are you so against the fact that he likes you?" Tapir now turned to look at her, although his nose was pointing at least twenty degrees over. His eyes used to be a beautiful sunlit ice hue, but ever since he lost his vision, they turned into a depressing, cloudy gray. 

"Because he's so weird about it", Glee murmured, sitting down beside the sightless smilodon.

Tapir chuckled audibly, "You'll see some day. What does your mother think about him?"

"Woe is the leader; she doesn't have time to keep taps on her daughter's lack of a love life", Glee reminded. She was almost expecting Tapir to say and what about your father, but the beige smilodon was smart enough not to.

"Of course. She's so busy worrying about her missing husband she can't keep track of yours, who, for the record; isn't missing", Tapir purred teasingly. Glee groaned.

"You're just asking to be exiled at this point. Maybe you should keep your loud mouth shut for a change, no?" Glee stood up and left without saying another word or waiting for a response.

The day had barely begun and Glee was already tired of having to be awake for it. Sometimes she wished she could be like Tapir; sitting alone in her nest listening to the birds sing while everyone avoids you like the plague. She especially wished Bretzia would avoid her like the plague.

He's just so weird, like get a hint!